Staff - Union

Job Category BCGEU Okanagan Support Staff

Job Profile BCGEU OK Salaried - Support Services Assistant II

Job Title Sr. Departmental Administrative Assistant

Department UBCO | Faculty | Department of Chemistry | Irving K. Barber Faculty of Sciences

Compensation Range $4,270.00 - $4,897.00 CAD Monthly

Posting End Date April 19, 2023

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date

Job Summary
The incumbent will provide student, faculty and financial related administrative support to the Department Head, faculty and staff in the department of Chemistry. This includes: assisting with the Education Plan management, determining Teaching Assistant allocations, managing and coordinating student hires, assisting with the recruitment of new Faculty, Sessional and Staff hires. It also includes supporting the Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure process, providing administrative support for Graduate Students, assisting with departmental financial processes and organizing seminars, workshops, conferences and other events. The incumbent exercises initiative and judgment to assess and respond to issues and to resolve administrative problems, works effectively using database and web-based programs and performs general routine office procedures.

Organizational Status
The Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science (IKBFoS) is one of the largest Faculty at UBC\'s Okanagan campus, offering all of the Science degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The Dean of the Faculty is the primary administrator. The Dean\'s Office includes several Associate Deans and various staff members. The IKBFoS is divided into a number of Administrative Units (each with a Department Head) that house the many disciplinary and interdisciplinary degree programs. This position reports to the Department Head for day-to-day activities related to administrative support, and to the Director, Strategic Partnerships and Operations with regards to conditions of employment and University, Faculty and Departmental policies and procedures. This position interacts with students, staff, IKBFoS faculty members, Enrolment Services, Student Development and Advising, Human Resources, Finance Operations Okanagan, Facilities Management and other faculties and schools administration.

Work Performed
1. Provides administrative support to the Department Head by:

• Assists with the Education Plan management, in accordance with established guidelines, by performing appropriate budget calculations to determine Teaching Assistant (TA) allocations for each term, provides updates to Sessional faculty allotments for each discipline, based on vacancies resulting from study leaves, sick leaves and secondments of faculty members. Handles and updates required information into spreadsheets for the Dean\'s Office.

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  Manages and coordinates TA hires, allocations and assignments in accordance with established guidelines. This requires advertising the positions, meeting with coordinators in all disciplines to determine allocations of marking and laboratory demonstration hours for particular courses, as well as handling all details of TA contracts and job offers.

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  Handles course scheduling by adding, requesting labs and/or closing labs as required in accordance with established guidelines. This involves close monitoring of enrolment and waitlists of courses; moving classes into appropriate classrooms (due to size and facilities).

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  Assists with student registration; records appropriate changes to student records in the Student Information Service Centre (SISC), manages wait-lists and pre-requisite requirements, course conflicts and various registration requests from students.

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  Assists with the recruitment of new Faculty, Sessional and Staff hires. Creates adverts for internal and external advertising; makes travel arrangements and schedules interviews as appropriate.

• Coordinates onboarding by setting up offices and entering appropriate IT and Facilities requests.

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  Adds Instructors and TA\'s to Student Evaluation of Teaching (SEOT) for evaluation purposes.

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  Prepares and distributes agendas, documentation and minutes for Department meetings, caucus meetings and various committees. Attends meetings; takes minutes.

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  Coordinates and schedules appointments.

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  Responds to inquiries from students, faculty members, staff, other UBC departments and the general public.

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  Receives and assists official visitors.

2. Provides administrative support with respect to student hires by:

• Handles the administration of all student hires including Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA), Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTA), Graduate Academic Assistants (GAA), Undergraduate Academic Assistants (UAA), Work Study and Work Learn students.

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  Collects, records, uploads, files and/or appropriately disposes of all confidential documents required for student hires (taxes, personal data, and direct deposit).

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  Provides set-up information to student employees (CWL, PIN and UBC email information).

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  Assigns student hires to appropriate courses in SISC and collects and enters student hire duties into SISC.

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  Coordinates onboarding by setting up office space (if required) and enters appropriate IT and Facilities requests; liaises with new hires to meet their specific needs.

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  Provides ongoing assistance to TA\'s, AA\'s, Markers and Work Study/Work Learn appointments with issues pertaining to payroll, facilities, equipment and supplies.

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  Prepares and posts Teaching Assistant positions for Head\'s review, and tracks appointments, including salary.

3. Provides administrative support for Graduate Students by:

• Servies as the resource person for faculty, staff and students regarding policies and procedures surrounding admissions, programs of study, awards, research assistantships, graduation, and other related matters.

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  Coordinates and publicizes graduate student research seminars.

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  Coordinates graduate student office allocations.

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  Maintains graduate student information database to track applicant information, degree progression, grades, thesis, biographical, financial and award information.

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  Monitors student progress in consultation with faculty supervisors, checks transcripts and filing prior to defense to ensure that all credit and special requirements have been met.

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  Announces thesis defenses and processing related tasks.

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  Ensures that all documents necessary for graduation have been received and processed, and forwards documentation confirming degree completion to the College of Graduate Studies.

4. Supports Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure (ARPT) process by:

• Attends ARPT meetings; takes and composes minutes in an accurate and timely manner.

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  Prepares approved copies of confidential dossiers for distribution to Faculty ARPT Committee members.

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  Maintaining related confidential faculty ARPT files.

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  Provides quality assurance of Faculty member reports (Annual Activity Report, Annual Planning Document, study leave application, Merit and Performance report) by checking for completeness, signatures and formatting.

5. Assists with Department financial processes by:

• Initiates and processes requisitions for payment/expenses.

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  Handles and reconciles a department VISA card.

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  Reconciles financial expenses for Department staff or faculty, if delegated by that individual.

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  Collects and secures hard copies of all financial transactions for entire Department for audit purposes.

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  Coordinates the monthly and year-end tracking and reconciliation of Department expenditures.

6. Performs other related duties as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
The employee in this position is expected to perform professionally and make proper and sound decisions. Adherence to detail is critical. This position has access to confidential correspondence, student exams, financial records and personal information for staff and faculty. This position has access to sensitive student record information. Errors have a direct impact on student academic records. Poor judgment or errors in processing confidential materials and correspondence could have an adverse effect on the work of the Department Head. Access to this wide range of information requires the employee to exercise judgment in maintaining the confidentiality of the information. A breach of privacy and policy may have financial, legal and reputational implications for the University. Must be able to exercise a great deal of judgment and initiative in dealing with administrative matters where there are no established policies, procedures or guidelines.

Supervision Received
This position works under the Department Head for day to day unit support tasks, and receives supervision and guidance from the Director, Strategic Relationships and Operations with regards to conditions of employment and University, Faculty and Departmental policies and procedures. This position carries out familiar phases of work independently and in accordance with established procedures; however, is expected to be able to take initiative, problem-solve, determine course of action and then follow through independently without supervision.

Supervision Given
The position is not responsible for the supervision of others.

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate Degree in a relevant discipline. Over three years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Incumbent must have intermediate proficiency in MS Office software which includes Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Outlook and PowerPoint. Must have knowledge of Adobe PDF.
Knowledge of University policies and procedures is an asset.
Able to effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities.
Excellent organizational skills are required.
Able to ensure efficient records management procedures and practices required.
Excellent oral and written communication using clear concise business English is required.
Able to take and transcribe accurate minutes and able to perform word processing at 60 words per minute.
Demonstrated ability to work both independently and within a team environment.
Able to maintain accuracy and attention to detail.
Able to exercise confidentiality, sensitivity, tact and discretion.
Able to prioritize work, multi-task and work under pressure to meet deadlines in a hectic environment.

Preferred Qualifications
Experience in a university setting providing administrative assistance to executives is preferred.